These look interesting.
I like it, not that I had any issues with their past packaging. I liked the vials better than their current package. Best of both worlds I guess.
Interesting. For small batch brewers like myself it looks like a convenient way to get multiple pitches out of one pack.
At Morebeer, they are listed as containing 150 billion cells. You pay for them though ($15.99 vs. $10.99 for the regular pure pitch packets).
I have come to believe cell count is a secondary factor. I want to pitch healthy, active yeast. If the cell count is low, the yeast will make up for it few hours.
+1
This seems like trying to keep up competition with Omega who increased their cell count a couple years ago.
As homebrewing contracts and the market continues to favor easier solutions like all-in-one brewing systems, every part of brewing is going to follow increasing convenience even at an increase in cost. People wandering into a homebrew shop on a Saturday to brew on Sunday will likely pick this over pouch that needs a starter or buying two full pouches for even more money.
I’m with Denny on the cell count. Lance at Omega explained it pretty neatly. That being said, the pic they share of Cal Ale shows 7.5m cells/mL with a volume of 70 mL which comes out to 525m cells. Their yeast calculator seems to use 7.95m cells/mL, which doesn’t quite line up with the packaging but maybe thats what they “typically” produce and the package shows the minimum. How does Morebeer come up with 150 billion?
https://topcrop.co/is-your-pitch-rate-calculator-lying-to-you
The 7.5 m cells/ml is the pitch rate when used with 19 liters (5 gallons) of wort, as clearly shown on the package. That means there are 7.5million cells/ml*19000 ml = 1.425 billion cells. Close enough to 1.5 billion, considering how little that number actually matters.
I bought a pouch of 566 (Belgian Saison II), which is a strain I’ve never actually used before. It looks like the production date was about 4 weeks ago. In case anyone is interested, below is a picture of the QC data that comes up when you scan the QR code on the back of the pouch. I haven’t used it yet, but it does seem like the package would be easy to reseal if you wanted to pitch less than the entire contents.
That says “Made to contain 215 billion cells/ml”. With a package size of 70 ml that works out to 1.5 billion cells per package. I’m not sure what “made to contain” means exactly, though. It is not a guaranteed minimum, just a target, I guess.
Since they mention the ASBC Yeast 4 method, I would hope that they actually perform a cell count.
I think it’s great that they provide this type of batch QC data. I hope this trend continues throughout the hobby.
I’m pretty happy with the performance of this yeast. I pitched the whole pouch into 5.5 gallons of 1.058 wort, and 15 hours later (first time I checked) it was going pretty hard and already down 7 points. It finished at 1.005.
I pitched another single next generation pouch of WLP545 (Belgian Strong) that was just over 3 months out from its best buy date into 5.5 gallons of 1.058 wort, and it finished at 1.006. I guess that’s pretty much what you would expect from these STA1 positive yeasts.
They’re starting to offer more strains in these new, larger pouches. I’m going to try a few more.
I’m also a small batch (2.5gal) brewer and I’m finding these Next Gen Pure Pitch pouches to be really annoying. I don’t want to be measuring out yeast and storing open pouches in my fridge for some indeterminate amount of time. So now I either need to pitch a full pouch into 2.5gal (White Labs tells me this is fine but it would be a huge overpitch and it would be rather expensive to say the least) or plan back-to-back beers using the same yeast. Meh.
Unfortunately, White Labs no longer offers the old, lower cell count (and cheaper!) pouches. So, has anyone partially used - then recapped the Next Gen pouches? According to WL, opening and recapping the pouch does not affect its storage life…still 6 months from the day it was born.
If there weren’t a few strains in particular that I really liked I would just move on to another brand.
Thoughts? Experiences?
I use dry yeast most of the time now, somewhat for the reason noted. I typically will make a low ABV beer as starting point, then repitch and move into a bigger ABV beer from there. I make mostly lagers, so I have no problem re-pitching several batches in sequence and then moving on to a different strain. I rarely have 2 beers fermenting at the same time, but occasionally I will have an ale going and a lager going, with each strain harvested for subsequent batches (Bitters for ales and all types of lager beers for the lager strain.)
As to the Meh comment, I appreciate the desire to experiment with different strains, but many smaller brewers have only one or two strains and are making several styles with them. It can be done. By the same token, the multitude of yeast strains really makes it a home brewers paradise of choices to fit a particular style.
Perhaps storage of the pure pitch pouch can be down in a sanitizer solution? Just a thought.
Us small batch brewers are not the core homebrewing market for yeast labs. They’re competing against the convenience of the expanding dry yeast selection which doesn’t require starters and extra days to prep for a brewday or buying $20 of yeast to forego a starter. Eventually, they’ll probably all move to this model. For now, if Wyeast is available to you, their pouches are pretty much fine to pitch without a starter into a 2.5 gallon batch.
There are solutions to extend the life of yeast in your fridge if you have the space and desire.
Yeah, I certainly understand that small batch brewers are (rightfully so) not White Labs (or anyone’s) main concern. And to ynot’s point, I should be thankful for the many yeast choices available to this hobby. It’s just a small annoyance is all.
I don’t do anything with yeast other than open the pouch and pitch. I’m stupid, so I keep it simple. At least I’ve learned that much. 
I like White Labs. I’ve had a lot of success with their products and want to keep using them, correctly. If it were as simple as switching to another brand I probably would but I’m not sure there are clear subs elsewhere.
WLP080?
WLP940?
I guess all I was looking for was experience from anyone who had only used a partial pouch of Next Gen. Is it as simple as screwing the cap back on and sticking it back in the fridge, like I would with milk? Just keep an eye on the expiration date?
I don’t have much experience with pitching less than a full pouch/vial/package, but if I were going to do that with the new pouches from White Labs (for a small batch, for example), I would consider spraying it well with sanitizer and then re-capping, then putting the pouch in a sanitized ziploc baggie generously sprayed inside and out with the sanitizer. That should be a pretty good sanitization approach. I have done it once with dry yeast in a similar way - only using the dry yeast for de-oxygenating some strike water, though.